I'm pasting my discussion of things that I think United/we should give up from my thread. It hasn't gotten many hits, partially because it overlaps with the subject of this thread. So here goes:
Well, there have been a bunch of threads talking about what MORE United can do for its customers to improve the airline. Unfortunately, since we don't live in fantasy land, the reality is that United is going to have to change over the next several months. Those changes WON'T take the form of more Godiva chocolates and getting rid of 2 class 767s. So now that we live in a real world, we should help United by telling it the kind of cuts that it should make.
Are these painful? Sure they are. But are they necessary if the airline that we are loyal to is to continue? You bet. So here are my suggestions.
1) Streamline the fleet by reducing to 737s, 767s and 777s. WHAT? Are you crazy, they say. I know. I know. I don't want to see the 747s go either. And I like the new Airbuses. But the fact is that 747s carry with them enormous labor costs. And with fewer types, especially fewer manufacturers (i.e. one--Boeing, instead of two--Boeing and Airbus), United can substantially shrink its maintanence costs (i.e., get rid of a lot of employees). If they buy some new 737-900s, they can fly pretty much every domestic flight with 737s (a la Southwest), and use some of the 767s and 777s for higher density routes.
2) Get rid of Miami as a mini-hub for Latin-American destinations and move all Latin-American flights to IAD. The higher yield people going to/from Latin America are business people who are coming to the Northeast predominantly and the Midwest to a lesser extent. Tourists coming to South Beach aren't making these flights to MIA profitable.
3) Get rid of any Asian flights from ORD that can't be reached by 777s. I assume that this would mean maybe cutting just ORD-HKG and maybe a couple of others. With no more 747s, shift those flights to SFO where they could be reached using the 777s. Again, I know this cut is no fun (but then again, neither is the ORD-HKG nonstop (although it is pretty cool flying over Kamchatka)).
3a) Along with getting rid of some of the flights that only 747s can make, make Narita into an even stronger hub. Of course, this requires approval from the Japanese and American governments. If this comes to pass, United should actually try to fly to additional locations in SE Asia (i.e., more places in China, more frequency to BKK and SIN, etc).
4) Cut Denver as a major hub. Make it into a smaller hub. With Frontier there, United can't charge as high a price for its tickets. It needs to reduce capacity big time at DIA.
5) Increase flights slightly to IAD with the build-up in South American flights (i.e. add a little extra capacity to LAX, SFO, DIA).
6) Cut meal service to a bare minimum in coach on U.S. flights (a la bistro bags). But maintain the same service in first class.
7) Convert all international airplanes (except those flying ORD-NRT, SFO/LAX-NRT and SFO/LAX-other Asian destinations) to two-class service (i.e., coach and business). Not enough people pay for international first class and there's no reason to have it just to keep deadheading/SA employees happy.
8) Get rid of 1K centers and offer 1Ks membership to RCCs for $200 a year.
9) At least double the price of 500-mile upgrade certificates so that a book of 4 costs $250 -- maybe even bump it to $400 for a book of 4. I'm sure that's going to be a done deal anyway.
10) Rolling hub schedules rather than flight banks at various times throughout the day. Grocery stores make money by turning the customer into the employee (i.e., making the customer unstock the shelves -- that's why Webvan failed because its employees, not the customer, did all the work). United must make money by making people wait at hubs, not by making its planes wait at hubs.
11) Increase fares. When other airlines don't match, don't pull back the increases. Sure bookings with slip for a few weeks but after the other airlines see that United isn't backing down from its fare increase, others will eventually follow. Sure, Southwest, ATA, Airtran, et al. might not follow but the fact remains that they are a small piece of the whole pie.
12) File bankruptcy and force givebacks from unions, especially pilots and maintenance workers.
13) Keep the Mileage Plus program pretty much the same but raise redemption levels (i.e., 35,000 for U.S. coach flight; 50,000 for Mainland-Hawaii coach flights; 65,000 for U.S.-Europe coach flights; etc.)
I know. I don't like these either. But we can't live in fantasy land anymore. And neither can United.